In recent years, increasing efforts and a corresponding public awareness have been directed toward the reclamation and re-use of recyclable waste and like materials, such as aluminum cans and containers, glass containers and other glass articles, and newspaper and similar paper products, which have traditionally been simply discarded. As is known, considerable cost savings, as well as more efficient management and use of natural resources necessary to produce such items may be realized by reclaiming and recycling such items. In addition, the reclamation and re-use of recyclable waste reduces the amount of such items being placed in landfills which are rapidly becoming filled which has necessitated ocean dumping and the attendant pollution of our oceans and the ecological harm resulting therefrom.
To this end, many towns and municipalities throughout the United States are enacting ordinances requiring that homeowners or business establishments separate the waste into different categories, for example, trash which will be disposed of at a garbage damp, landfill site and/or incineration plant, recyclable materials which may be re-used in producing new products, and compostable materials which may be composted in a backyard composter or collected for centralized composting.
Despite the obvious benefits obtained from the reclamation and recycling of those items as aforementioned, various disadvantages and problems to the individual member of the household or business establishment have prevented broad scale public acceptance and participation in organized recycling and composting efforts. Principally, individuals object mostly to the greater space requirements and efforts necessary to segregate and store several different types of recyclable items, as well as the continuing necessity to collect, and dispose of non-recyclable waste and refuse. As will be understood, until the segregated collection of recyclable items can be made less burdensome and more convenient to the individual members of the public, the majority of the public will remain unwilling to participate in organized reclamation programs.
There are known a number of designs for compartmented waste containers such as from Jones, U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,722, Waterston, U.S. Pat No. 5,092,480, Crine, U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,253, Lee, U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,592, and Lombardi, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,719. However, despite the utility of these containers, such containers have not satisfied the needs of the individual members of the public for segregating and storing recyclable materials in a manner to promote participation in the reclamation and recycling effort as mandated by currently enacted ordinances.